Passing through the beautiful scenery on the border of Derbyshire and Staffordshire to Buxton,
the London & North Western Railway’s picturesque line from Ashbourne has long been a favourite
of railway historians and photographers. Along its route, it served remote communities, often
isolated by winter snowfalls, and industry in the form of limestone quarries that seem to be
eating away north-west Derbyshire to leave a permanent blizzard-white panorama. If the
attraction of the scenery were not enough to generate interest in the line, it also had the
distinction of being partly aligned on the northern half of the famous Cromford and High Peak
Railway.

At its southern end, it made an end-on junction with a line from Uttoxeter built by a different
railway company, the North Staffordshire Railway – a line that has tended to be overlooked in
other published works. This book redresses the balance by viewing the line from Uttoxeter to
Buxton as a whole.

The two lines were quite different in character. The earlier line from Uttoxeter was very much
rooted in the railway mania of the mid-19th century. The later one from Buxton was a
comparatively recent addition, built after the railway network of Great Britain had been
largely completed. This was a period of consolidation when the sometimes highly-speculative
schemes of fifty years earlier had given way to strategic routes that filled in some of the
last-remaining gaps on the railway map. Where the earlier line was built by navvies using only
the most basic tools and equipment, the later line had the benefit of half a century of
railway-building expertise. In historical terms, the line from Uttoxeter to Ashbourne is more
contemporary with the original Cromford and High Peak Railway than the extension to Buxton,
which largely superseded it.

14/11/18 RCTS South Wales
Old Church Rooms, Park Road, Radyr, Cardiff, CF15 8DF
“Restoring 7903 Foremarke Hall” by John Cruxon, Locomotive Manager 7903 fund
All monies raised to be donated to the locomotive maintenance fund
Starts at 1930 (room open from 1900)
Non-members are very welcome – a donation of £2.00 is requestedhttps://www.radyr.org.uk/clubs/5984-2/